No-One Above Suspicion In Case Of Madeleine McCann
MADELEINE McCann is back on the front page of the Express.
“Dad protests: We are not to blame.”
Gerry McCann is in Washington. He is in the White House meeting staff in the employ of First Lady Barbra Bush.
It is the way of American politics that while the husband declares war and puts up taxes, the Waspish wife delivers homespun wisdom. But Mrs Bush cannot meet Gerry McCann. She has other arrangements.
Or might it be that she does not want to appear too caring, too close to the man accused of neglecting his daughter.
Ever since Madeleine McCann went missing the Anorak message boards and comment pages have been filled with thousands of readers saying they think the McCanns acted irresponsibly in going out for dinner and leaving their three young children alone in the holiday apartment.
“The McCanns part with all that money when they wouldn’t pay for a babysitter? Get real!,” says Marian. “The media’s criticism of these parents is justified and useful, if it stops other irresponsible parents from leaving their toddlers unattended,” says Fulmar. “It was grossly irresponsible and I can’t help but feel if they were not educated middle-class people, that there would be a lot more censure about it in the press and the news coverage,” says Liz.
Blame
And now, as the Sun says, Madeleine’s father is facing a “TV grilling”. Mrs Bush has not met him. But the ABC Good Morning America show has.
“We were 50 yards away and could see the apartment,” says Gerry McCann. “It’s like we were at the end of our garden…We didn’t think we needed a babysitter.”
And they did not break the law. As Gerry tells CNN in a later interview: “We have been assured by the authorities that what we did fell well within the boundaries of good parenting. Madeleine was targeted by a predator and we shouldn’t have to be worrying about people getting into our homes and gardens and playgrounds. That is real criminal act here.”
He is right. Of course. The criminal is the one who, as we suspect, took Madeleine. And then there are the feelings of guilt Mr McCann talks of on his blog. They do not need reminding what that they could have done more. Their child is drowning and they have forgotten how to swim. There is much pain.
And a media frenxy. But the Express is on their side. The Express is championing the McCanns. The paper has no news on Madeleine, which is the point of the McCanns’ media onslaught. But the Express backs Gerry McCann to the hilt. After all, he and his wife are the story.
And it will “fight the smears”. Over in Portugal, Sol magazine “bizarrely” accuses Madeleine’s parents and friends in their holiday group of a “pact of silence”.
The report says: “Madeleine parents and friend with whom they spent their holidays are suspects in the inquiry. There are contradictory versions about the night of the kidnapping and an assumed pact of silence in the group.”
It is claimed that statements differ over how often Madeleine and her siblings were checked. Gerry and Kate McCann are said to be “deeply hurt” by this story.
But surely it is a valid line of inquiry. Should anyone be above suspicion in this case? No. And if Robert Murat, suspect number one, the only named suspect, is found to be innocent, where would fingers then point?
In a case where facts are thin and speculation rife, right it is that all parties are questioned, their testimonies scrutinised.
Or else what is the point?
Posted: 25th, July 2007 | In: Madeleine McCann Comments (146) | TrackBack | Permalink
